


The Chemicals Between Us

by Leah_Red



Category: Bandom, My Chemical Romance, The Used, Venom (Movie 2018)
Genre: F/M, Hypnosis, I'm not really good at actual investigating, Insider Trading, M/M, Mania, Masturbation, Other, Pegging, Polyamory, Realistic Depictions of Mental Illness, Vampires, crime!, dan and anne are a-okay i promise, symbrock, this is as slow a burn as ur gonna get babes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-24
Updated: 2019-02-08
Packaged: 2019-08-28 13:33:55
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 15,029
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16724361
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Leah_Red/pseuds/Leah_Red
Summary: Eddie Brock is back on the scene as he investigates a trading company that is not all that it seems. At the same time, feelings towards his alien partner are becoming muddled and confusing, and... Why does Dan keep looking at him like that?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I started this a month and a half ago trying to write pwp but look. Look what happened. It grew a plot. Fuck.

Eddie marched through the forest, hands behind his head. Treece stomped behind him and finally spun him around, the barrel of a gun pointed right at his face. Sure, at that point he'd seen that more than a few times, but now it felt more _personal._ And infinitely more dangerous.

"Not so tough without your buddy, are you?" Treece taunted.

He might have been literally dying, but that didn't mean he had to be a bitch. Eddie started swinging, trying to knock the gun out of Treece's hand and maybe buy himself some time. Unfortunately, all that did was get him pistol whipped and knocked to the ground.

"Nice try. I'll give you an A for effort," Treece growled at him.

"You're making a mistake, Treece," Eddie said, spitting out blood and soil. He didn't dare get up off his knees as he glared up at the security officer. "There's something going on here that's bigger than both of us." His words got interrupted for a split second when he noticed a familiar black tendril snaking through the air, snagging one of Treece's goons. "And it's definitely bigger than you..." Eddie had to use all his concentration to keep his eyes on Treece as another goon disappeared into the darkness.

He wasn't buying Eddie's play for time, and they both knew it. _Come on, come on,_ he thought to himself, bracing himself for a gunshot. Eddie held his breath but still flinched when a tall, dark figure materialized behind Treece. It reached out and grabbed his shoulder with clawed fingers, spinning him around to see Treece's angered and then terrified face. Eddie couldn't have blinked in the time it took for a maw full of sharp teeth to totally decapitate Treece.

“Hi, Eddie.”

Eddie felt a hot flush spread over his body, looking up at the symbiote towering over him. The same clawed hand grabbed his shoulder, practically wrapping around his upper torso as it pulled him to his feet. Eddie's shoulder burned hotter under the alien's grip and his already damp clothes got yet another layer of sweat. He swallowed hard as his eyes swept over the sadistic smile and ridiculously sharp teeth.

The hulking symbiote grinned even wider, if that was possible, before pressing his hot tongue into Eddie's mouth. He closed his eyes and opened his mouth wider to invite him in. Heat washed over his body as the alien sank into and melded with his him. The heat was starting to become unbearable, enough to leave him panting into the kiss. Wait - fuck, he didn't want to call it a kiss but what the hell else was it?

**Eddie.**

"What, what is it?" Eddie mumbled. The feeling of being made whole again, _complete_ in a way he didn't think was possible as Venom merged with him, became more like boiling hot water was trying to force its way through his veins.

**Eddie, wake up.**

Eddie struggled to move his arms and legs, and he heard the familiar hated sound of his alarm clock blaring next to his bed. He flung his hand around the scratched up Goodwill table until it met the clock and turned it off. 

"Fuck. Shit." His tee and the sheets beneath him were totally soaked in sweat, and he left a moist hand print on the face of the cheap clock. Eddie sat up and put his feet on the relatively cool floor beneath him. He scrubbed his face with the hem of his shirt to try to get some of the damp feeling away before peeling it off and tossing it in the corner.

There was a quiet beep from the window-mounted air conditioning as it turned on. Eddie turned just in time to see a black tendril retracting back into his shoulder.

**Another temperature spike. You should record that for Dan.**

"Whatever, Nurse Bitey, gimme a minute to wake up." Eddie stood up in front of the air conditioner for a few seconds, relishing in the cool air. He didn't want to hear Venom complain any more so soon after he woke up so he left the bliss of the AC and headed a few steps to the small living room in his apartment. 

On the table - a cheap Ikea replacement that he'd picked up from a garage sale after Drake's goons trashed his place - was a huge mess of papers and charts. Right on top, being used as a paperweight, was an infrared thermometer. It was necessary to take his temperature, since normal thermometers didn't even go that high so much as they started beeping alarms at him being overheated. Eddie opened his mouth, trying his best to avoid thinking about the dream he just woke from, and pointed the thermometer at his tongue.

"126.2 Fahrenheit," he murmured, writing it down on a printed out Excel sheet. It wasn't too far from normal. His usual body temperature was closer to 110F or 112F, depending on how active he was, but he was still getting seemingly random spikes of heat up to almost 130F. They'd gotten fewer and more far between than when he first bonded with Venom three months ago, but it was still often enough to be a pain in the ass.

**Your body is still getting used to me. A more ideal host would have passed beyond this phase weeks ago, but you will have to do.**

Eddie rolled his eyes and sighed. "You never get tired of talking shit, do you?"

**I will get tired of it when you stop giving me shit to talk about.**

Typical. Eddie grabbed a half-eaten chocolate bar from off another stack of papers and peeled the wrapper off. “So we have shit to do today,” he said with his mouth full. “There's a whistle-blower in the Financial District that wants to get in touch about some big business breaks that are taking place under the table. Lunch is on them, so we might actually get enough to eat today.”

**Enough to satisfy you, maybe.**

“Blue steak is good enough for now. Shut up and deal with it.” He stuffed the last squares of chocolate in his mouth. “Then after that, if the source pans out, we'll regroup at home and type up the notes. If there's time, we're gonna stop by Dan's hospital and drop off the paperwork.”

Eddie heard a dissatisfied grumble. “What is it this time?”

**The hospital is full of the frail and weak. Why can't we put them out of their misery? Two birds, one stone.**

“We've gone over this before, Licorice.” Eddie tossed the candy wrapper in the garbage. “Bad people only.”

 **But –** Venom tried to interrupt him while he got up to rinse off in the shower.

“And don't try to tell me that weak people are bad because they are a 'drain on society' or some shit. That's bougie as hell and you know it.” He pointed his finger at the mirror, where Venom's toothy face stared back at him. 

**Hmph. But if we ever run out of our supply of “bad people,”** Venom sassed back, **do not cry to me when you've turned down our easiest supply of fresh meat.**

“We'll cross that bridge when we get to it.” Eddie turned away from the mirror to strip and get in the shower, trying to avoid thinking about the permanent presence watching him. He turned on the tap and stepped in while it was still cold.

Eddie kept his face to the cool tap while it warmed, trying desperately not to think of the dream he was woken so rudely from. It would be bad enough if this was the first time it had happened, but this was starting to be a recurring nightly theme. He wasn't sure if he wanted to think about why that was the case. The water was just starting to feel comfortable when he sensed the rippling sensation of Venom sliding out from his skin, and a bony chin rest itself on his shoulder.

“Something is on your mind, Eddie.”

“Did I say I wanted to talk about it?” He kept his eyes closed while groping for the bar of soap.

“Things that worry you worry me. We have discussed this.” Venom's tendril worked across his back to press against his tense shoulders.

“We don't have time for this.” Eddie grunted triumphantly and closed his hand around the soap. He scraped it hurriedly across his chest and abdomen. There was no way on god's green earth that he was going to get a hard-on thinking about a kiss between him and his alien partner. The less time he had to touch his own bare skin, the better.

Venom growled softly. Eddie could tell he wasn't going to drop the subject any time soon. “Eddie...” Sharp teeth scraped against his ear. An involuntary shudder ran down his body.

“Nope! Fuck, fuckfuckfuck–” He dropped the soap in his hand and immediately turned the faucet all the way to cold. Venom hissed and retracted back into his body. “We're gonna be late, I do not have time to-” Eddie clamped his jaw shut. Out of everything that had happened since he met Venom, rubbing one out was the absolute least of his priorities. Why did the urge to come have to appear _NOW_ of all times?! The thought of Venom watching, asking questions curiously, making fun of him – he didn't want to deal with any of it.

 **We need the stability this reporting job gives us. If that weren't the case, we would not be leaving the apartment until we talk.** Venom sank quietly into the back of Eddie's mind, leaving nothing but a feeling of disgruntled and impatient disappointment.

Eddie dressed as quickly as he could after that. He was hyper-conscious of the fact that Venom could see literally everything he could, and more. It was more disconcerting than usual. After packing a bag with more chocolate bars and his binder of charts and Excel sheets, Eddie hurried out the door and downstairs.

Once outside, Eddie pulled an old Bluetooth headset from his jacket pocket and hooked it over his ear. He'd gotten tired of getting looked at like he was a psychopath when responding to Venom, and this generally explained away how he was talking to someone that wasn't there. Usually Venom started speaking to him as soon as he put it on knowing that Eddie would reply. This time, though, there was silence.

“Everything okay, bud?” He didn't expect an answer. There was a subtle shifting feeling at the base of his skull and nothing else. “The silent treatment huh.” Eddie rolled his eyes. Drama queen. He'd find a way to avoid the subject of a slowly building sex-drive if it killed him. Of all the damn things to reappear...

Venom continued his silence for the entire walk to the upscale restaurant they were to meet the informant at. Just because he was quiet didn't mean that Eddie still didn't feel the effects of the symbiote's presence. His eyes constantly shifted to everyone he walked past, judging them in a split second if they were a threat or (even worse) a potential meal. Most pedestrians were dismissed immediately, though there were a few that Eddie felt Venom catalog for later.

Usually the heightened awareness wasn't much of a problem. Eddie could ignore it, pushing the sensation back towards his symbiote. This time was an exception, throwing him back to the days when they first bonded. He felt on edge and tense by the time he walked inside the restaurant, barely able to keep his head from whipping around at sudden sounds or movements. 

The server that led him to the table gave him odd looks at his twitching hands and constantly shrugging shoulders. Eddie found himself wondering what he tasted like before he forced the thought away.

“You made it!” A nervous man in a dark suit jacket half-stood out of his seat before Eddie stopped him.

“No, no, you don't need to get up for me.” Eddie sat down across from him and set his bag under his chair. “I'm glad we could set up a meeting, Mr. Way.”

“Oh, please, call me Gerard,” the man said quickly, holding hand out over the table. Eddie shook it firmly, and was alarmed at how chilly his grasp was. A similar look of confusion seemed to mirror on Gerard's face for a moment, probably at how warm Eddie's hand felt in comparison. “And I can call you...?”

“Eddie's fine.” He glanced at the short menu on the table, knowing what he already promised Venom for lunch. “I don't know how you usually do these things, Gerard, but I find it easier to concentrate on business once I've got some food in me.”

Gerard laughed with a lopsided grin. “Understandable. I can _technically_ classify this as a business lunch, so feel free to get whatever you want.” Eddie didn't miss the split-second expression of dread at the mention of business.

The same judgmental server appeared to take their orders. Blue steak and whatever was on tap got him a dismissive eyebrow twitch. He was looking tastier by the second. Another judging look was shot at Gerard when he ordered almost the same thing, with a Virgin Mary instead.

“Not many people I've met like their steak to just look at a grill,” Eddie commented. He took a small notebook out of his jacket pocket and set it on the table with a pen.

“It's a newly acquired taste,” Gerard said. He looked away, not meeting Eddie's eyes. “As for things that we'll talk about later... We're working on the assumption of anonymity, yes?”

“Of course. I do everything in my power to protect my sources.” Eddie slipped the headset off his ear that way there was no worry about him recording anything. “I'll also be asking a few questions about your place in Vervez Trading for a small piece about them, in case anyone knows or finds out about our meeting.”

“Excellent, thank you.” The relief on Gerard's face was so clear that Eddie felt a little bad for him.

Small talk and a few notes about the company's mission statement took up most of the time they were waiting for their meals. Eddie was interrupted in a question to pad out the puff piece when his head twitched at the scent of fresh meat.

“Can you chill out, please?” he murmured under his breath, disguising his words with a hand over his mouth. If Gerard noticed, he didn't say anything. Eddie shook his head to clear it and pretended that he hadn't noticed the server coming with their food when he showed up a few seconds later.

“I guess we have to talk about the real reason I contacted you.” Gerard looked at him with a suddenly serious expression.

“If you want to get started, I'm all ears.” Eddie took a bite of his steak, his attention divided between Gerard, trying to eat, and trying to eat in a way that didn't devolve into him picking up the steak with both hands and biting into it like he was starving.

Gerard sighed. He looked around him carefully before leaning forward. “I know this is going to sound insane. But... I also know the rumors about you and the Life Foundation. If there's anyone that will believe me, it's you.” 

Eddie froze, all muscles tensed up at once. Venom's outrage and his own memories of Carlton Drake were never a good combination. He forced a breath out slowly. “I gotta hear what you have to say before I believe anything,” he finally managed to say. Eddie could feel the symbiote roiling under his skin.

Gerard nodded in reply and looked him in the eye.

“The people running Vervez Trading are not... human.”

*

Eddie walked out of the restaurant almost two hours later. A frown pulled at his mouth while he pulled the earpiece out of his pocket and put it on.

“Any thoughts on that conversation?” 

Silence. Eddie could practically feel Venom writhing around his head, itching to speak, but refusing to do so. He rubbed his face and fought down building frustration.

“Fine. Be that way if you want. We spent longer talking than I expected, so we have to head right to Dan's if we don't wanna be late.”

Eddie made his way through the afternoon streets, trying to work out if Gerard was legit or not. He claimed that the acting board of Vervez Trading was composed of... vampires. Blood-sucking undead. Averse to the sun and religious artifacts. And that their insider trading was based on centuries old money and influence that could intimidate or persuade anyone that they wanted to.

According to Way, they'd been grooming him for a position among their ranks. He had refused to elaborate what that might mean despite Eddie's continued questioning. The topic kept coming back to an acquisition that the company was looking to make, and how their “alternate lifestyle” might cause more than just monetary harm to others.

Vervez was in the process of merging with a major pharmaceutical company that produced blood products and derivative medicines based on blood. Triple Solace, it was called. If the source wasn't so credible, Eddie would have laughed his way out of the restaurant. Even Venom had been listening as Way claimed that their merging with the company was more than just to expand their influence into the medical field.

Way had claimed that through this merger, Vervez would be able to gain access to a pipeline of medical subjects that would almost certainly end up dead. When pressed on that, he had shut down again, almost to the point of ending the under-the-table interview.

The whole thing was enough to leave Eddie with a bad taste in his mouth. It was totally outrageous... but after ending up with an alien living inside his body after dealing with another megacorporation, he couldn't totally shut out the idea of vampires in San Francisco.

The automatic sliding doors of the hospital whisked open, and Eddie shivered slightly. Even without being vocal, the knowledge of so many easy-to-access meals being so close made Venom's hunger more apparent and Eddie's mouth water. He took out a chocolate bar from his bag and took a bite. Ten minutes later he was waiting in an exam room, working on his third bar and thanking god that his metabolism worked overtime.

He didn't have to wait long for Dan to open the door. As soon as the door was shut behind him, Venom wriggled out of Eddie's shoulder.

“Human Dan. Greetings.”

“Hey Dan,” Eddie added. To Venom he said, “You don't... we've talked about this, the 'human' part is implied.” Eddie held up a square of chocolate to Venom without thinking.

Dan just laughed and took Eddie's chart out of a locked cabinet in the room. “I don't mind. It's endearing. Better than when he used to call me lunch.”

“I could call you dinner instead,” Venom replied. His warm tongue wrapped around Eddie's wrist as he delicately took the chocolate square from his fingers. **I am still angry with you.**

“Whatever you say, Licorice,” Eddie mumbled back to him. He reached down to his bag and took out the binder with his last two weeks of records. Venom was busy licking melted chocolate off his fingertips when he looked up again and barely held back a flinch as Dan moved quickly across the room. He shook it off as just some unexpected movement catching him off guard again, missing the slight flush on Dan's cheeks when he finally looked back at them.

“You've been doing the regular temperature recordings and food log... wow.” Dan's eyebrows raised when he looked at the laundry list of food items that Eddie was required to eat to remain functional. “Ah. I see.”

“You must have seen the last time we got fresh meat,” Venom said, clearly enjoying the discomfort Dan displayed at seeing where Eddie marked down the last time he ran into some bad guys that just begged to be eaten.

Eddie sighed and tugged his hand away from Venom. “Come on, be nice. You find anything out on the blood tests you did last time I was here?”

“Everything seems to be equalizing. Most of your bodily functions are recovering, just like he said they would.” Dan handed the binder back to Eddie and flipped through the charts. “There are a few oddities that are probably just your systems bouncing back from failure, but we'll have to do more tests over the next few weeks to find out.”

“I will not let Eddie die. You are overreacting.” Venom narrowed his eyes at Dan while Eddie rolled his. He took off his jacket and rolled up his sleeve so he could get his blood pressure taken.

“It's definitely a miracle that he's still here, that's for sure.” Dan put the automated cuff around his arm and took out a vial for blood.

Eddie just shook his head. Did the two of them always have to talk like he wasn't there?

“And you uh. You haven't told Anne about this, have you?”

Dan shook his head. “She knows you come to me for regular checkups but I haven't told her about your friend.”

“Good.” Eddie wasn't sure why he wanted that to stay a secret from his ex-fiancee. He definitely didn't want her to keep worrying about him, but he also didn't want Venom to get up to any stupid schemes to try to get them together again. She was clearly happy with Dan, and it wasn't their place to try to get between them.

“So are there any other updates that you think I should know outside of the body temperature and food intake?” Dan asked. He tucked a vial of blood that he'd drawn into his white coat's pocket.

“Not that I can think of.” 

Venom growled from his perch on Eddie's shoulder, and Eddie turned to glare at him. “Don't you fucking dare,” he hissed, suddenly worried that he would bring up the fact that he was trying to hide something from him.

“Don't let me get between the two of you,” Dan said quickly. “We're done here for now anyway. I'll send you a message when I'm available for another appointment.” Eddie barely got in a 'goodbye' before the door shut behind him.

“Great! You scared him off! Good work, genius.” Eddie shrugged his jacket on, squashing Venom under his clothes until he phased through them and back under his skin.

**I like Dan. I would not scare him away.**

“Whatever you say.” He grabbed his bag and stomped out, hands buried in his pockets. “Are you done with your little temper tantrum now?”

**Are you done with yours?**

Eddie bared his teeth and growled under his breath. As much as Venom had picked up mannerisms from him, he had picked up a few from Venom as well.

**You can't hide things from me forever, Eddie.**

“I'm not hiding anything!” he insisted. He expected a sarcastic remark right back, but there was nothing. He wasn't being shut out like before. This quiet was thoughtful, contemplating. Eddie wasn't sure if he wanted to know what Venom was thinking about.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I LOVE DAN

Eddie propped his feet up on his coffee table, laptop open on his lap. He was organizing his notes from the meeting earlier that day with Way, doing his best to find a way to phrase things so that they didn't sound totally nuts.

“Vampires in San Francisco. Sounds like National Enquirer bullshit.” He tossed a tater tot into his mouth and typed a few more lines in.

**Vampires... they eat people. Sounds like us.**

“No, not really. People we eat don't come back from the dead hungry for blood.” Eddie's hand moved on it's own to reach for the remote control.

 **Your work is boring. If they are not like us, then I don't care.** He turned the television on and Eddie did his best to tune it out. **There are no good food channels on during the day.**

“It's just TV, Licorice. Just because it's got people on it doesn't mean it's food.” Eddie shook his head.

**I wish you would stop calling me that. I am not a disgusting candy that you hate.**

Eddie snorted. “You look just like it though. Look.” He pulled up an image search of licorice, and Venom appeared from his shoulder, peering at the screen.

“That's barely a resemblance.”

“Mmm. Find me something better to call you. Till then, Licorice it is.” Eddie handed him a tater tot. “Look, about this morning...” 

“You will tell me when you are ready. Isn't that right?” A black tentacle wrapped loosely around his neck and rubbed the corner of his jaw. 

Eddie felt his face heat up. He shifted a little, trying to move away from the touch. “S-sure. When I'm ready.”

Venom didn't seem to get the hint. Ropes of inky black tentacles appeared and settled around his neck and chest like a heavy scarf. 

“What made you change your mind?” Eddie asked, curiosity getting the better of him. There was no way he could forget the threat of not being able to leave the apartment until they hashed it out.

“You are stubborn. Pushing you only makes you lock down more.” Venom settled down contentedly on Eddie's chest while he watched crappy daytime soaps and Eddie did his best to focus on his work. 

Even three months into this 'partnership,' Eddie wasn't one hundred percent sure what all Venom could read from his thoughts, and what was still private. Sometimes things he thought were obvious had to be explained (Like the how expression “eating ass” wasn't literal. That was an interesting conversation.), and sometimes the symbiote just seemed to know things about human life that Eddie thought would be confusing or questionable.

He wasn't sure he'd ever find out exactly what parts of his mind he shared with Venom. In any case, he had a new knowledge of _The Young and the Restless_ whether he liked it or not. 

Eddie started a bulleted list at the bottom of his notes. Now that he had the basics written out, he needed to figure out where to go from here. At some point he was going to need proof of Vervez Trading's board being – being not human. It was easier to think of it that way than calling them vampires. Breaking in to their offices was tempting, especially with Venom on his side. However, after what happened the last time he broke into a corporation's property, that would be the very last resort.

“We could always follow them. Is that not one of your specialties?”

“Huh?” Eddie didn't even realize that Venom's attention had turned back to his work. “We could certainly try.” It might even be easier with Venom's help.

“If they are bad, we could even eat them. I've never had _vampire_ before.”

“No! No eating! Especially not businessmen that could buy out our entire food supply for the month for centuries.” Eddie looked mournfully at the plate of tots that was now empty. He sighed and put the laptop on the table. “Might as well make the rest of the bag. Almost empty anyway.”

The evening news started while Eddie dumped the rest of the frozen potato shapes onto the toaster oven's plate. “I like the ones that are shaped like little faces.” Venom's tongue flicked out and took a cold tater tot.

“If I find those, I promise I'll get them again.” Eddie laughed, remembering the bottle of ketchup that was a convincing substitute for blood. The grin on his face faded when he felt an odd sensation in his chest. “What...?” He put his hand in the center of his chest. It almost felt like...

“Lieutenant Dan! Ice cream!”

Eddie glanced back at his phone on the table next to his computer. Dan never really texted him unless it was some kind of medical emergency. Or that one time that he was a hostage in a bank robbery. They ate pretty well that day.

He unlocked his phone and checked out the message. 'You have any spare time Saturday? There are some labs I want to go over with you.'

'Sure' Eddie texted back. 'Same time same place?' He flopped back down on the couch and scrolled through some emails now that he had his phone in his hand. A couple minutes later he got another text.

'Actually would it be ok if we met at your place? Someone found some of your paperwork. I was able to explain it away but it would be better if I stopped storing it at the hospital. And obviously I can't keep it or bring you here.'

Eddie stuck his tongue out at the screen. “Here” probably meant the place he shared with Anne. The place where _he_ used to live. Eddie wouldn't say he was stuck on his ex-fiancee anymore but he knew it would be a lie to say he was totally over her, too.

'Whatever works. Saturday night fine?' That was usually his night to go out with Venom and find bad guys, but he could put that off for a weekend, or move it to Sunday night. 

“That okay with you, bud?” Eddie asked, showing the phone to Venom.

“Fine. But only if we go out Sunday instead.” Venom reached out with a small tendril and pressed 'send.'

*

Eddie desperately wished he could close his eyes as Venom launched them through the air, leaping across rooftops. 

_I hate heights. I hate heights. I hate heights._ He felt a ripple of amusement across his mind, the symbiote's silent laughter.

“We will not fall, Eddie.” They perched on the corner of a rooftop while Venom planned out their approach to Pacific Heights. “And if we did, I would catch us.”

_That doesn't make me feel any better._

Through some good old fashioned Googling, Eddie had found out that chief executive of Vervez was someone named Robert McCracken. It took a little more legwork to find out where he lived, or at least get a general idea. Of course it would be in the most pretentious area of the city, and of course it would have been a bad idea to ride his motorcycle up there. The less he identified himself as being around that neighborhood the better. But that didn't mean he wanted Venom to decide to take him there.

_Okay so once we get there, how exactly do you plan to find this Robert guy?_

“That is your job, not mine.”

_Next time, we are **walking.**_

*

**Open the door.**

“Huh?” Eddie looked up from his computer. A few seconds later there was a knock. “I really wish you would quit doing that.” He trusted Venom's judgment on who was at the door, and opened it to find Dan standing there with several bags of takeout.

“I hope I'm not too early.” He lifted the bags with an embarrassed grin. “I also hope it's okay I brought dinner.”

“You are always allowed to bring me food. Come on in.” Eddie opened the door wider to let Dan in and hurried to clear a space off on the kitchen island. An extra hand formed from Venom's black goo helped him clean up a bit, gathering up some dirty dishes and putting them in the sink.

He didn't miss Dan's totally fascinated expression. “He's usually not this helpful. Don't get used to it.” Eddie felt a tug at the back of his neck. His hoodie started to pull down; Venom was probably pooled in the hood, opalescent eyes taking in the scenery. 

Once there was enough room, Dan set down the bags of food on the counter. Out of a messenger bag he pulled out a thick folder. “Here's your files. Do you have some place safe to keep them?” 

“Yeah, I'll find somewhere to put 'em. Just leave them on the coffee table for now.” Eddie grabbed some bowls from the dish drainer next to the sink and handed one to Dan. “If you want to eat anything you better get it now, because it's very likely we can eat all of this if we set our mind to it.”

If Dan was bothered by Eddie referring himself plurally, he didn't show it. “I wasn't sure what you liked so I got pretty much one of everything.” He snorted out a laugh. “The poor lady handing me the food really thought this was for a party. I didn't have a heart to tell her the truth.”

“I mean, three people's a party, right?” Eddie stuffed a wonton in his mouth.

“Well...” Dan watched a tentacle reach out and snag another wonton and bring it over Eddie's shoulder. “I guess I won't argue with you there.”

The three of them sat in relatively comfortable silence while they dished out their takeout. Eddie was about to ask about the labs Dan wanted to go over when he took a bite of General Tso's. Venom hissed from the hood behind him and his hand involuntarily dropped his fork.

“What the hell!”

**Hot! I don't like hot!**

“It's not actual heat it's just spicy! For fuck's sake...” Eddie grabbed a napkin to wipe up the rice that fell when he dropped the fork. “Sorry Dan. Jesus.” He grumbled to himself irritatedly. “Learn something new about each other every day. Asshole. Let me eat.”

When he finally tossed the mess in the trash, Eddie looked up to see Dan watching him curiously. He expected to see some sort of fascinated revulsion, like back when he and Venom were still trying to come to terms with who get to control his body when, but there was none of that.

Their eyes met. Dan quickly looked away, face turning a little red in what Eddie assumed was the act of getting caught staring.

A black blob with eyes appeared on Eddie's shoulder. “I do not like spicy things.”

“You could have _told_ me that before it was in my _mouth._ ” Eddie pushed away his bowl. He sighed and grabbed a safer, less spicy, dish. “I promise we're not always this amusing, Dan.” He could see Dan trying his best to hide a grin behind his hand.

“Would it be rude to call this dinner and a show?” 

Eddie laughed dryly. “A little bit, yeah.”

“I didn't know you two shared sensations like that. Does he feel everything you do?” Dan asked.

“Mhm. Just about.” Eddie focused on his food so he didn't have to look Dan in the eye. Memories of their disagreement over Eddie's returning sex drive floated back to the surface. “Anyway, what were the labs you wanted to go over with me?”

“Oh, right.” Dan pulled out one last piece of paper from his back pocket. “I try to do full spectrum blood analysis every time you come in. Just in case there's any oddities that stand out more than the rest of your... new quirks.” He unfolded the paper and turned it towards Eddie. Even Venom got a little closer to look at it, looking like a pitch-drop experiment in fast forward.

On the sheet was a chart with several lines on it. Most were low, with a few peaks here and there, but in the middle, Dan had circled one that had gone almost off the chart. It pointed all the way at the top of the page.

“This is a chemical called phenethylamine.” He pointed to the circled peak. “This one right next to it, that's almost as high, is called phenylacetic acid. It's a chemical that your body produces after it uses phenethylamine.”

“Okay. Is that... bad?” Eddie frowned at the paper.

“Not necessarily? Those chemicals are normal neuromodulators and neurotransmitters in the human body. The thing is, they aren't really even supposed to be detectable in blood. There's a new pharmaceutical company that's bankrolling us at the hospital. Triple Solace. I got to use some of their new machines to look at your samples; that's the only way I found this.” Dan focused on Eddie again, his look of fascination back. “Something about your body chemistry now means that you both produce and use more phenethylamine than a human should be able to.” He glanced at an open bag of Hershey's kisses on the counter. “Funny enough, chocolate is one of the few common foods that contain it.”

“You think that has something to do with Venom?” Eddie slid the paper back towards Dan so he wouldn't spill teriyaki beef on it.

“It's quite possible. Didn't you tell me once that chocolate helps keep away the cravings for uh. For bad guys?”

“Yes, and it also tastes good,” Venom said. He sunk into Eddie's shoulder and reappeared from his left hand, tongue flicking out to take a kiss, foil and all.

“It might be your unconventional, incredibly illegal, and definitely terrifying eating habits that are being driven by a need for phenethylamine. I want to look into it more before I confirm that for sure, but I thought you'd want to know.” Dan nodded, satisfied with his delivery. 

Eddie chewed thoughtfully. “I'll keep that in mind. We've been trying to stock up on chocolate when we get the chance. I guess I know why now.” 

Dan nodded. “Anything else I find I'll pass along, but really this seems to be the most unusual.” His mouth twitched when Venom ate several more kisses and then hacked up a ball of chewed up foil. 

“Ignore him. He's doing it for attention. We've eaten worse.” Eddie made a disappointed noise when his fork scraped the bottom of his empty container. 

“No offense, but it's pretty impossible to ignore him.” Dan stirred the lo mein in his bowl. “What does that _feel_ like?” he finally asked.

“What does what feel like?” Eddie held open a container for Venom to examine before digging in.

“I guess just him. Venom.” The little blob stared back at Dan. “Could I – could I touch him? I don't know if that's rude –“

Eddie shrugged. “You could always ask,” he said with his mouth full. “He likes you, he probably won't bite.”

“Only probably?” Dan leaned a little closer. “Can I?” he asked the symbiote, hand hovering in the air.

Venom formed a little more fully out of Eddie's hand. Eddie thought he looked kinda cute like that. Well, maybe not cute, but the fact that he looked more like a sock-puppet snake than an evil disembodied head helped make him less intimidating. 

Dan poked him hesitantly with his fingertip, and then gently stroked Venom. “Wow. He's warmer than I expected.” Eddie sat frozen in his seat. Since when could he feel what Venom did? Wasn't it just the other way around? Dan curled his fingers and rubbed Venom's 'chin' with his his knuckles until the symbiote bared his teeth and snapped at him.

“Ah!” Dan yelped and yanked his hand back before laughing nervously. Venom clearly wasn't aiming to actually bite him, since Dan escaped without a scratch.

“Hey! What was that for!” Eddie yelled at his hand, as Venom had already merged with his body again and disappeared. “Sorry. He was probably just doing that because he knew you'd react.” He stuck his tongue out at his arm. “Asshole.”

Dan pulled his phone out of his pocket and looked at the time. “Ah geez. It's getting pretty late. I gotta get going. You two all set for the night?” 

Eddie nodded. “Yeah, you bet. This should keep us going through tomorrow.” He started to tie up the remaining food into the bags to put in the fridge. “Thanks again for stopping by, Dan. Say hi to Anne for me?”

“No problem, and sure thing. You two have a good night, okay?” Dan pat Eddie's back on the way out the door.

“You, too. See you next time.” Eddie waved him off and shut the door. “You want to get the food out of the fridge and keep going?” he asked aloud.

**Absolutely.**

*

Dan lay on the bed, eyes closed against the cool pillow. His and Anne's after sex routine hadn't changed. He went and rinsed off in the shower first, and then she took over the bathroom to clean herself up, as well as any toys they might have used. At the moment he could hear her unbuckling her strap-on and getting the toy cleaner out from under the sink.

“You sure were in a mood today,” she said through the open door. “Good day at work?”

“Mmm. You could say that.” Dan opened one eye to watch her. “I stopped by Eddie's after my shift was over.” He did his best to sound casual, but had a feeling Anne could see through it immediately.

“Yeah? How's he doing? Still alive?” Anne tied her hair up into a loose ponytail, glancing at Dan meaningfully.

“Yep, good as can be, as far as I can tell.” Dan went quiet, and Anne let the silence stretch out. She hummed to herself as she cleaned and then showered. Dan still hadn't spoken by the time she got in bed with him.

Anne nestled into the covers. A quiet smirk played on her face. “So how bad is it?”

“Oh my god, Anne, he's such a mess.” Dan covered his face with his hands. “Like just. A total disaster. But that works for him???”

“See, now you get why I fell for him.” Anne gently tugged Dan's hands away from his eyes. “The best part is, I bet he's totally oblivious. He won't know what you're thinking unless you spell it out in neon.” She shook her head. “Like a college-age lesbian.”

Dan sighed softly. “Thank god.” He finally uncovered his face to reveal his red cheeks. “Though... I wonder if _he_ can tell...”

“You been dishing the gossip to someone else other than me?” Anne put a hand to her chest in mock surprise.

“Ah.” Dan's smitten expression turned more serious. “Actually, I should tell you about that.”

“What do you mean?” Anne's tone was still conversational, but bordered on worried.

“See, I was keeping it from you because doctor-patient confidentiality, and then he asked me to specifically, like as a friend, and I didn't want you to worry –“ Dan's babbling was interrupted by Anne's finger on his lips.

“Dan. Just tell me.”

“It's not just Eddie that I'm... attracted to,” he managed to spit out. “It's _all_ of him.”

“'All' of him?” Comprehension started to dawn on Anne's face.

Dan nodded. “Eddie wouldn't really be the same if he didn't have Venom with him...”

“Oh my god.” Anne rolled on to her back and pinched the bridge of his nose. “You two. You _three_ are going to kill me. Why didn't you tell me he was still alive? Why do you find that homicidal slime _attractive!?”_

“He's got tentacles Anne!” Dan leaned over on his elbow to look at her. “Also I don't think he's that bad? I've been working with Eddie and him for couple months now and they really actually care about each other. And the whole eating people might actually be because of a nutritional deficiency.”

“You cannot be serious.” Anne rubbed her face. “All right. Okay. If you wanna get involved with that absolute mess, by all means. I won't stop you.” She turned to look at him, face pulled into a frown. “But if you somehow become... I don't know, _alien pregnant_ , you can take Eddie to court for child support because I will _not_ be a part of that.” 

Dan bit his lip to keep from grinning. He could see the corners of her mouth trying to pull up into a laugh as she finished her ultimatum.

“But if all this goes down? You better believe you're on the hook for giving me _all_ the details.”

Dan couldn't hold back a smile now. He kissed her once, reaching up to cup her cheek. “I don't kiss and tell, Anne.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> eddie is diagnosed with a very serious disease

Eddie didn't do _mornings._ Especially not cold, foggy, pre-dawn San Francisco mornings. He sneered at the weather app on his phone. “So much for a balmy sunrise.” The phone went back into his pocket so he could wrap his arms around himself to try to warm up. That's what he got for listening to the forecast and not wearing a jacket or hoodie like he usually did.

**We should get breakfast after this.**

“My thoughts exactly.” Staking out a house to find Robert McCracken was both necessary and boring as hell. There was almost nothing he could find out about him other than the connection of Vervez and Triple Solace. The man was almost impossible to track down. Eddie closed his eyes for a few seconds, imagining a hot cup of coffee in his hands. He rubbed his arms and was surprised to actually feel much warmer. Opening his eyes curiously, he bit back a yelp.

Black goo oozed down his arms and across his chest. “You can't do that right now, we're out in public!” he hissed, thinking that Venom was going to try to take over and cover his entire body.

**I know what I am doing. Watch.** Venom responded by squeezing his upper body in what felt like a hug and then continuing to cover him. Eddie watched with wide eyes as the normally wet looking symbiote goo turned matte, and then formed into the shape of a black hoodie. It felt exactly his size, warm without being too hot, and with a comfortable weight, like a thick blanket more than a piece of clothing.

“Since when could you do this?” Eddie rubbed his hands on his chest and arms and shivered. He could feel the duel sensation of the warm not-fabric on his hands as well as the touch that Venom felt. “Since when could I feel what you feel?” he added in a whisper.

**I could always do this. You just never asked.** Venom tightened around Eddie again in another hug. 

Eddie felt his face warm. He didn't miss that Venom didn't answer his second question. He was thinking about asking again, playing with the cuffs of the 'hoodie', when his head looked up to one of the houses involuntarily.

“It's him. Good work.” He pulled his hood up to hide his face, noting down the license plate and model of the car that McCracken drove off in. “Let's get out of here.”

**Breakfast?** Venom asked hopefully. 

“Yes, for breakfast. And coffee.” The hood rubbed against his cheek in agreement and Eddie smiled ruefully, sufficiently distracted enough to put his hands in the hoodie pocket. Tendrils wrapped around his chilly fingers to warm him up.

**McDonald's?** The tendrils around his fingers tightened slightly.

Eddie sighed. “Fine. McDonald's. But we have more work to do after that.”

Twenty minutes later, Eddie had a bag full of McGriddles in one hand and a hot coffee in the other. He took a sip of coffee and sighed happily. Venom tightened around him a bit, following the warmth as it traveled down his chest. “Much better.”

**Eddie.**

“Hmm?” He sat down at one of the tables outside, brushing off some dew that was still on the seat.

A tiny blob with eyes peeked out of the black hoodie. “I want some, too.”

Eddie flinched and shoved him back under the collar. “What are you doing! You gotta stay hidden, we're in public,” he hissed.

Venom rubbed against his hand and a tendril wrapped around his neck to rub against his chin. Eddie felt heat rise in his face.

“Seriously, cut it out!” He hurried to unwrap a breakfast sandwich and shoved it towards Venom. He took a bite and the tendrils around Eddie's neck retracted. When he brought the sandwich back down there was a bite gone that seemed larger than it should have been. 

“This is supposed to be my breakfast, too, you know,” Eddie grumbled. He took an even bigger bite to emphasize that. Breakfast managed to be an uneventful affair after that, though Eddie kept looking around him to make sure no one was watching as he stuffed pieces sausage and egg into his hoodie.

Eddie finally managed to take the edge off his ever-present hunger and took off for the moment. Sipping his coffee, Eddie sighed. “What's gotten into you lately?”

**I don't know what you're talking about,** Venom grumbled.

“Uh huh. Whatever you say.” Eddie slipped his phone out of his back pocket and checked his messages. He'd been trying to get in touch with Way for the past couple days but there'd been no response. Part of him figured that Way was a busy man and didn't want to risk getting caught communicating with him, but another part worried that something had gone wrong.

No use worrying about it right then. Eddie got up out of his seat and took out a tangled coil of earbuds from his other pocket, plugging them into his phone. There was one other thing he had to get done today. The police scanner app on his phone started up without a problem, and he tuned in to his favorite station. 

**Are we going to get some _real_ food today?** Venom asked, paying close attention to the police radio signals.

“Yes we are,” Eddie replied confidently. “Yes we are.”

*

Eddie glanced around quickly before ducking into the dark alley. They were close to their prey – the culprits, he reminded himself.

For the past two weeks they'd been on a case, covertly. Through connections at the office, well-tuned police scanners, and good old-fashioned legwork, Eddie had been closing in on what he was sure was a human trafficking ring. Tonight, he was determined to get to the bottom of this.

“You ready?” he murmured under his breath. 

**Ready.**

Eddie took a deep breath before nodding. He felt the warmth of the symbiote start to surround him and surrendered his body over to his partner. When they first met, it was something he fought against, that loss of his own movement and control. Now that they trusted each other more, the transition was seamless.

“They're close,” Venom hissed. They moved quickly between empty warehouses and bare lots. Eddie could feel their mouth watering.

_Take it slow._ Eddie didn't try to stop them, but he was paying close attention to their surroundings. _We want to make sure not to get any victims, just the assholes in charge._

Venom didn't reply, only growling and moving faster. Finally they stopped outside a smaller warehouse before climbing up to the roof as quietly as possible. They moved to a vent in the roof and peered inside.

On the bare concrete floor was a ring of what could only be described as prisoners. They sat with their backs to the center and he thought they might have their hands in cuffs behind them. Eddie counted over twenty before Venom moved their gaze elsewhere.

Men with black ski masks and what looked like automatic weapons stood around the building. Venom had been too fast and too camouflaged in the darkness for anyone to notice them approach. They left their perch to glance over the edge of the roof again. There were a couple more guards on each corner.

“Useless humans,” Venom muttered.

_Don't worry, they're not going to be around for long._ Eddie hadn't wanted to eat someone so badly before he saw this. _Take us in._

Without even breaking a sweat Venom opened the rusted roof vent enough to let them slip inside. The rusty squeal drew a few looks from the guards, but they were too fast. Sharpened claws and tendrils gripped at the dark ceiling as they crawled along.

_Be careful. The last thing we want is for the victims to get hurt._ Eddie was sure that his warning was useless, but he shared it anyway. He relegated himself to being background noise to Venom's hunger.

Venom waited until one of the masked men had their back to them before sending a tentacle of black sludge to wrap around his face and head, snapping him up to them. Eddie wasn't sure how happy he was about the fact that the man was already dead when they bit his head off, neck broken from the trip up to them.

The thump of the headless body falling to the floor drew the attention of the next closest guard, and Venom was quick to take them out too. Eddie tried not to think too hard about the glee at consuming a living human he felt, but considering who these people were and what they were doing, he didn't care too much.

The second body fell on top of the first, and Venom was quick to move to another dark spot on the ceiling. The guards started to shout and point their guns upwards. Venom only grinned wickedly and continued to pick them off one by one.

The guards from outside started to run in as the shouting got louder, and the first gunshots shattered one of the few lights illuminating the warehouse. Eddie could feel Venom get the idea to take the rest out, zooming and swooping from light to light to break the lights or drop them to the floor.

Eddie let Venom do his thing, watching with barely held back sadistic glee as the gun-toting humans started to dwindle. He made Venom stop suddenly, though, when he heard something shouted across the warehouse.

“Get that Vervez truck here NOW!”

_Don't kill him! Grab him, get him to the roof!_ Eddie could feel his will in the movement as Venom grabbed a masked man by the back of his shirt, claws sinking into the bullet proof vest. It only took them a few more seconds to get him to the roof, away from the chaos below them.

“What do you know about Vervez!” Eddie demanded through Venom's voice. “How are they involved here?”

“What the fuck are you!?” The man didn't answer their question. They didn't like that. They slammed their hand flat in the middle of his chest, feeling and hearing ribs crack.

“Why is Vervez coming here?” they asked again, voice dangerously quiet.

The man coughed painfully, breath rasping now. “Vervez... just picks them up,” he finally gasped out. “They bring a truck, hand us the money, and take them. Nobody knows anything!”

They didn't feel like finishing him off after that, only dropping him through the roof vent to the concrete below.

Eddie struggled mentally to separate himself from Venom. _Phone,_ he demanded. _Use the phone._ Venom made sure to take them far enough away from the warehouse to be safe before sinking into Eddie's skin again, leaving him gasping for breath as he collapsed to his knees. 

His hands were shaking when he pulled his phone from his back pocket to dial 911. He made sure to stay until he heard the police zoom in before making his way back into town.

He didn't start to feel like himself until he was surrounded by the light night crowds of San Francisco. He closed his eyes and leaned against a lamp post, trying to clear his head.

**You are troubled.**

“No shit.” That wasn't the first time they had taken out some 'bad guys,' but it was the first time that Eddie had nearly lost himself like that. 

**We should go home.** Eddie felt his legs start moving on their own and groaned.

“Fine, fine. I get it.” He took over his own movement and finally got them back to the apartment. Eddie collapsed on his bed face first without changing. “We need to find Way,” he mumbled into his pillows.

**That's not what you are worried about.** Venom slipped from Eddie's shoulders. He felt soft kneading across his tense back and shoulders; it almost reminded him of a cat.

“I don't wanna talk about what I'm worried about,” Eddie sighed. That felt too good to be legal. Venom didn't let up, slowly relaxing his muscles until he finally spoke. He sighed again. “What if that happens again and I can't come back?”

A warm tendril rubbed against his cheek, stroking down his jawline. **I would not let you leave me like that. Don't you remember what I told you? You are mine.**

Eddie didn't normally listen to Venom's possessive statements, but this time it was comforting, grounding. He let Venom continue to knead and massage his back, slowly falling asleep as he relaxed.

**You are mine, Eddie Brock.**

*

Eddie's breath was fast and shallow, gasping for air between kisses. Sharp teeth grazed his lips and tongue but never broke the skin. He moaned softly. “Vee...”

“Eddie. My Eddie.” A hot hand raked through his hair and then pulled hard, making him moan louder. 

He pressed himself up against the body in front of him to look for any sort of friction. “Please, please, please,” he murmured over and over.

Eddie wasn't sure what exactly woke him up. A noise from another apartment, the creaking building itself, honestly it didn't matter because all it did was make him aware that he was in bed, rock hard, and trying to fuck a hole into the mattress. 

“Fuck.” Eddie shut his eyes tightly and gripped at his pillow. He grit his teeth in silence for a few seconds before giving in and shoving his hand down into his boxers. 

Sometimes, Eddie found that if he woke up in the middle of the night, Venom was silent. He assumed he was asleep, or doing whatever the symbiote did that passed for sleep inside his body. Right at that second, hand wrapped around his cock, Eddie sure hoped that was the case.

A long masturbation session was not what he had in mind. Getting off quick and dirty was all that he wanted and he didn't even care how fast he came. Eddie clenched his eyes shut and held his breath, trying to hold on to what he had been dreaming about. After he came he could deny that it was about his symbiote partner all he wanted but at the moment that was all that mattered. 

The danger of those sharp teeth, the inhuman strength that could hold him down or rip him apart, the _tongue_... He wanted it, all of it, just for him. He wanted to claim those for himself the same way Venom claimed him.

Eddie whimpered softly, trying to hold back a moan. He could feel a climax building but it wasn't fast enough. He had no idea if or when Venom would wake up and find him like this. “Please, please, please,” he choked out and felt his muscles tense up as he came. His back tried to arch away from the bed while his toes curled into the sheets.

“Jesus...” Eddie's vision finally cleared as he lay panting on the bed. He closed his eyes for a moment, tempted to go back to sleep just like that, but decided not to regress back to his teens and wake up sticky and covered in his own cum. He stripped and got in a blissfully cold shower to let it chill him out.

He was finally starting to feel back to himself when he heard the voice he'd been silently dreading.

**Eddie. Why are we awake?**

“Weird dream. Don't worry about it.” Eddie washed his face and got out to stand in front of the AC. He hadn't felt so relaxed since Venom massaged him to sleep after their big bust the other day.

**Whatever you say.** Venom coiled quietly under his skin before sliding out, tendrils wrapping around Eddie's chest. He formed himself into a simple tee.

“You really like your new trick, huh?”

**It is comfortable.**

Eddie tried not to laugh. “And?” He could feel Venom wanting to say something more.

**I like people to see me on you. I want them to know you are mine.** Eddie felt the shirt adjust across his chest, and he saw a white design show up on the 'fabric' of Venom's white eyes.

“I guess I have my own brand now.” Eddie pulled on a pair of sweatpants and got back in bed. “At least try to give me some new looks every once in a while,” he mumbled into his pillow. “Don't wanna get accused of not doing laundry by Richard again...”

Eddie closed his eyes and felt himself going back to sleep almost immediately. The release of that orgasm was exactly what he had needed, and he didn't even have to explain anything to his alien.

*

Dan didn't even get to knock on the door before Eddie opened it for him.

“Hey!” Eddie seemed more excited for the bags of food in his hands than Dan, but he was used to it. “Come on in, we're starving.” 

Dan rolled his eyes and followed him in. He made sure to keep his own food in a separate container this time so that he wouldn't have to worry about his voracious crush eating it. “I see you were expecting me this time.”

“Go ahead and call yourself Pavlov. When you show up two Saturdays in a row, we'll be waiting on the third.” Eddie had already cleared the small kitchen island up and was getting out plates and forks. Venom was watching from his shoulder, emerging from the dark red sweater Eddie was wearing.

“I guess I have no one to blame but myself.” Dan put the bags down and pushed them towards Eddie. “How have you two been? Good I hope? No more repeats of the business down by the docks?” Dan looked at them both. Talk of the human trafficking ring being busted by a head-eating monster had been all over the news for days.

“Nope! Don't give us that look, Dan, they were literally asking for it.” Eddie dove headfirst into a styrofoam container of alfredo.

“That's not what literally means,” Dan tried to interrupt, but gave up after thinking about it. “As long as you've been keeping track of your eating habits...”

Eddie nodded and pushed up his sweater sleeves. Before he was even done doing that, his sweater transformed into a v-neck three-quarter sleeve tee in the same red.

“What – how did you –“ Dan reached across the table to touch Eddie's shoulder. It felt like fabric, but was warm, like touching skin. He didn't realize what he had done until he saw Eddie (and Venom) looking down at him. Dan felt his face heat up as he hurried to sit back. “Sorry. I uh. I remember you telling me about this but. Seeing it in person. Wow.”

“He's been getting good at it,” Eddie said slowly, finally taking another bite of pasta. “It's cut down on laundromat money.” 

Dan sighed mentally in relief. Thank god Eddie bought that. Anne was right, he really was oblivious. “So you're not wearing real clothes under that?” He hoped his face was still a little red from before because fuck. Eddie being basically naked other than the symbiote covering him? It was too much to think about while Dan was staring him right in the face.

“Underwear. And we're still working on shoes.” Eddie was more focused on the food than Dan. Had he even eaten today? Dan wondered. “If we wander into a sound that knocks Vee out I don't wanna be totally buck naked.”

“Oh. Yeah. I can see how that would be a problem.” Dan swallowed silently. He got out his own food and took a bite to try to distract himself.

Eddie ate voraciously while Dan filled him in on his last check up, occasionally holding up the fork for Venom to take a bite from it. It wasn't until the first styrofoam container was empty that he started to slow down.

“So everything's normal? I mean, as normal as we can be?” Eddie swatted at Venom as he oozed down his arm to try to lick the leftover sauce from the container. “Rude.”

Dan nodded. “No need to bring any paperwork with me this time. Although...” He took another bite, considering his words here. “There is something I'd like to do. You know, just, for your health and all. As a precaution.”

“Uh huh? Oh, pesto.” Eddie held up a ravioli for his alien to investigate before chowing down.

Okay here it goes, Dan thought to himself. “I figured, since I'm pretty much the only doctor you can go to, a – a physical exam might be due.” 

“Cool, easy enough. That all?” Eddie waved his hand at Venom again when he moved back up to his shoulder and tried to lick sauce off the side of his mouth.

“Well, I'll need to see both of... you? Your... forms?” Dan wasn't sure exactly how to phrase that and hoped neither of them got upset over it.

“Oh, you wanna see when he's in charge? I guess so.” Eddie shrugged. “Easy enough.”

“Go ahead and eat first,” Dan said, heart racing. He can't believe that actually _worked._ “When was the last time you ate?” he finally asked, slightly concerned.

“We ate like four grilled cheese sandwiches about an hour ago. We ran around the Financial District looking for somebody for a story so we were extra hungry.” Eddie rolled his eyes. _”Somebody_ kept trying to drag me to Ghirardelli Square.”

“You sure you were out doing work, or out on a date?” Dan quipped, and was shocked to see Eddie blush bright red.

“Work! Jesus. You actually have to be able to hold hands to go on a date,” he spluttered, getting up to grab a drink out of the fridge and probably hide his face.

Dan took note of that. Interesting. He also noticed that Venom hissed softly from his perch on Eddie's shoulder and disappeared under his skin. Was there something going on that Eddie was _purposefully_ being oblivious about? Even more interesting.

Eddie seemed to have calmed down when he came back with a cold bottle of water in each hand, giving one to Dan. “Thirsty?”

Dan opened his mouth a few times, unable to find something to reply to that. He settled on just nodding and taking the water.

“So you wanted to see Vee, right?”

“If that's okay with him, yes.” Dan nodded firmly, not trusting himself to say anything else.

“Might as well do that now.” Eddie took one last look at the pasta and shook his head. “Gotta pace myself. Come on.”

Dan followed Eddie to the one clear space in his apartment. He watched curiously when Eddie stood in place and frowned. 

“Come on. What's the deal,” Eddie said aloud, clearly not talking to Dan. There was no answer Dan could hear when he said a few seconds later, “It was _not_.” His cheeks started to turn pink again. “I'm sorry and we can talk about this later. Not in front of Dan,” he finished in a whisper that Dan almost didn't catch. “Okay. Thank you.”

Dan was about to ask if he was ready when black slime manifested around Eddie, building around his body until it hid him completely. When the alien ooze finally closed around Eddie's head and face, revealing a wide, toothy smile, Dan felt his heart skip a beat. Was it in fear? Was it in infatuation? He had no idea and at the moment both sensations were one and the same.

“Human Dan,” Venom said, leaning down so they were at eye level.

“...alien Venom,” Dan finally said back, mind blanking out and saying the first thing that ran through it.

Venom's smile got wider and he laughed. He sat down heavily on the wooden floor, still managing to be just about eye level with Dan. “Have I ever apologized for trying to kill you?” he asked nonchalantly.

“Ah.” Dan flashed back to when Eddie first bonded with the symbiote, when he was trying to find ways to get him out of Eddie to save his life. “I don't think so. But considering at the time I was kind of trying to do the same thing, I don't think it's necessary.”

“Hmm.” Venom's eyes narrowed slightly, glancing Dan up and down. “What is this about an examination?”

Dan took a slow breath. “You know, on second thought, I'm not sure that would be something I'm qualified for,” he managed to sputter out. “My specialty is the human body, not... whatever you have.” In his head Dan berated himself for being a total fucking _coward_ but goddamn. There was no way he could even pretend to be professional like this.

Venom smirked. The black material started to sink back down into Eddie's body, but before it disappeared, Dan could have sworn that he saw Venom wink. What was that about?

Eddie was left sitting on the floor. “Well that was productive.”

“Sorry. I didn't quite expect...” Dan trailed off, unsure how in the world to finish that statement.

“Don't worry about it. He's definitely more impressive in person.” 

Dan reached out to help him up. As soon as Eddie was on his feet, he made a beeline back to the food. With his back was turned to Dan, Venom emerged from him and turned a Cheshire grin to Dan. Catching Dan's eye, he made more tendrils emerge from Eddie and form a clawed hand that pointed at him.

“Me?” Dan mouthed.

Venom opened his mouth in unfettered glee. “Pussy,” he whispered.

“You say something?” Eddie asked, turning back to Dan. Venom disappeared back into Eddie so fast that he thought he might have imagined it.

“Not a thing,” Dan said faintly.

When he finally left Eddie's apartment, Dan got his phone out to text Anne.

'Anne I have something very important to tell you about Eddie.'

'Is he okay? What happened?'

Dan leaned against the wall. 'I have to diagnose him with a serious disease. Anne,' he texted, 'this is for real, I'm a doctor, you can't argue with me.'

'What is it? Dan, don't make me call you. What's going on?'

'Eddie has dumb bitch disease. It's terminal.'

Dan only got a picture of Anne flipping off the camera as a reply.


	4. Chapter 4

Eddie walked home from another midnight trip to the bodega, arms full of grocery bags. “You're gonna eat me out of house and home,” he grumbled to his symbiote.

**Food has to be food for me to eat it. I won't eat your home.** Eddie could practically feel the shit-eating grin that Vee would be making if he were visible.

“You're in an awfully good mood for no reason. Should I be worried?” he asked, readjusting the bags in his hands. Instead of an answer, Eddie got a flash of a familiar face in his head. Dan? “What's Dan got to do with this?”

Venom laughed silently, that ripple under Eddie's skin that he was so used to now. Before he could try to interrogate him any further, a hand reached out from a dark alley and grabbed the collar of his hoodie. 

Adrenaline flashed through his system. Eddie felt the security of Vee's body forming around his, reacting before he even know what was happening. The arm that grabbed him had barely started yanking them around before Venom had them pinned to the brick wall of the alley.

Eddie felt Venom bare his teeth and rear back to bite, ready to protect him, when he recognized the person in front of them. His hair was greasy, almost matted, and there were blue-black circles around his eyes, but this was definitely –

“Gerard?” Vee hissed and retracted back into Eddie's body, but made sure to keep the former whistle-blower pinned.

Way bared his teeth – were those _fangs?_ – before recognition finally softened his expression. “Brock?” he slowly said, voice hoarse. “Eddie Brock?”

Eddie waited just a second more before slowly letting him go. “What the hell are you doing? What the fuck... you look like shit!”

“Is anybody following you?” Gerard avoided the question, just looking out to the dimly lit street.

“No. Nobody's following us. What the hell has gotten into you?” Eddie peered into Gerard's face. Something about this wasn't right.

“McCracken is after me, Eddie.” When the twitching and paranoid man finally looked back at him, Eddie could have sworn his irises were red. “I don't know how I've stayed alive for so long.”

“Okay, okay, one thing at a time. You're coming with me,” he said, picking up his spilled bags, “you're taking a long hot shower, and we're gonna talk.”

An hour later, Eddie had a squeaky clean Gerard sitting in borrowed clothes on his couch, wrapped in a blanket and staring mournfully at a hot cup of coffee.

“All right. First things first. Why are you grabbing people off the streets? We could have killed you!” Eddie paced in front of Gerard.

“I was hungry. What do you mean by we?” Gerard picked up his mug and held it in both hands, but didn't drink.

“What do you mean by hungry?” Eddie asked back. “You can't just _rob_ people to get by, there's better ways you can go about it if you're in trouble –”

Gerard shook his head, interrupting him. “Don't you remember what I told you? God that was weeks ago...” He took a sip of coffee and the grimaced.

“Vampires. Yeah. Turns out human trafficking, too. Why?” Eddie stopped pacing and stood in front of him.

“They turned me into one of them.” He put the coffee down and held the blanket around him protectively. “Then they told me how they feed and I just – I ran. It was stupid and now I'm stuck like this having to hide like a fucking rat during the daytime and hope I don't kill people that I catch.” Gerard covered his face.

Eddie stared at him without blinking. What the fuck, he thought. It took him a moment to get his thoughts together. “Okay. Okay. Uh. Listen. We, uh. We know something about having to... consume people to survive so –“

“Why do you keep saying we?”

“Shit.” Eddie frowned thoughtfully. “Okay I can explain... No, that'll take too long. I can sum it up. The Life Foundation thing? Didn't go away. Black alien goop lives inside my body. Mostly we get along.”

Gerard looked at him like he had grown a second head. It was an appropriate expression, as a second head had appeared out of his shoulder while he was speaking and was staring at Gerard.

“So when it comes to having to eat people to live, you couldn't have found a better person to talk to. But for now... you stay here with us,” Eddie said decisively. “There's only one person I know that can help us right now.” 

He got out his phone to look up Dan's number.

*

Dan was just finishing up his shift. Thank god seniority let him pull out of overnight shifts most of the time. Tonight, though, nothing could budge the bureaucracy that was a hospital shift manager.

He changed out of his scrubs in the locker room, grateful to be in street clothes again. His replacement was already clocked in, his patients were all checked on and stable, he just had to get out of the damn building before somebody stopped him. Looked like he had some missed calls and messages from Eddie, too. Hopefully it wasn't some kind of emergency.

“Doctor Lewis.”

A soft-spoken voice from behind made him pause. Dan turned around to see one of the last people he expected. “Robert. What a pleasure to see you here.” He glanced at his watch. It was just after five AM. What was the leader of a major trading company doing here? The only reason Dan recognized him was because of the brief meeting some of the hospital staff had with Vervez and Triple Solace, since the pharmaceutical company would be doing work through the hospital.

“I heard you were acquainted with someone that we've been wanting to get in touch with.” Robert McCracken gestured towards an exit.

Dan knew that he didn't really have much choice. Offending someone that would be affecting hospital funding would be career suicide.

“What can I do to help?” Dan asked, following him out of the hospital.

*

Eddie was falling.

Heat from the exploding shuttle washed over him and he tried to shield his face with his arms. Burning debris and hot fuel vapors singed his clothes and hair, but he could deal with that. Above him he could see, he could _feel_ Venom trying to slow his fall and burning away in the process.

He tried to call out to him, to stop him from doing this. Eddie could feel his body empty, half of what it was supposed to be, he didn't want this –

**Goodbye, Eddie.**

The splash of cold water shocked the breath out of his chest. He struggled through the sting of salt water in his eyes and mouth to swim for the surface but it just got farther and farther away. His chest was tight with the need for air when he was finally able to start moving again.

“No!” Eddie thrashed in the sheets, trapped in the fabric. He gasped for air, still trying to swim through the water. The terror had him and he couldn't break loose of the nightmare. It wasn't until black tendrils wrapped around his wrists and ankles and secured him to the bed that he realized it _was_ just a dream. He finally lay still on the bed, panting to catch his breath. He tensed and tugged on bonds holding him just to make sure they were real.

**Eddie. I'm still here.** Venom tightened his grip on Eddie's limbs enough to be noticeable before sinking back into his skin.

“Wait, no, please –“ Eddie had just started to calm down after the dream, but he still wanted to make sure his symbiote was there. In response, black tendrils appeared next to him, thick and rope-like. Without even waiting for any other kind of response, Eddie grabbed them in his arms, crushing them against his chest.

**I am here,** he heard resonate in his head. **That was what you call a nightmare. I am here,** Venom repeated.

Eddie gripped at the symbiote tightly. “You... you can see my dreams?” he murmured against him, trying to ignore the tears building behind his eyelids. The thought of losing Venom after all this time was _terrifying_. 

**I have always been able to see your dreams.** If Eddie didn't know any better, he would have thought Vee was amused.

After a moment of thought Eddie felt his face heat up. “Jesus... this whole time? All of them?” There was no answer, but he felt the silent ripple of Vee's laughter under his skin. “Fuck.” Something tugs at his memory. Right when they started their investigation into Vervez...

“Is that why you were mad at me?” he asks quietly, tight grip on Vee loosening a bit. He gently stroked his hand across the warm symbiote.

“There are no secrets between us,” Venom whispered into Eddie's ear.

This time when when Vee nuzzled at his neck and Eddie felt the pinprick of sharp teeth against his skin, he didn't pull away.

“Listen,” he protested weakly, “we can't – we can't _do_ this. It's not...”

Venom growled softly in his ear. “It is not what?”

Eddie clenched his eyes shut. He didn't move his hands off of Vee's 'body,' as much of it as there was at the moment.

“When we're alone. We'll talk.” He opened his eyes and wasn't surprised to see Venom nose-to-nose with him, opalescent eyes looking straight at him. “Somebody's here. I'd rather not get into that kind of talk when someone's sleeping in the next room over.”

Vee seemed to assent, pressing his forehead against Eddie's before winding around him. When he moved out of the way Eddie could see what time it was.

“Jesus... we probably scared the shit out of him with the screaming.” Eddie sat up, barely noticing now when Venom draped him in clothes. Gerard was probably freaked out and he wanted to go check on him.

“Hey, everything okay in here?” Eddie asked softly. He poked his head into the living room where Gerard had been camped out on the couch. The television was off. There was only the soft woosh of the air conditioner running. “Gerard?”

He moved further into the main area of the apartment and felt his stomach start to drop. The couch was empty. The blanket Gerard had been using was half on the floor. Eddie rushed to the door but stopped when he got just a few steps away. It was just barely open, showing the light from the hallway outside.

“Shit.”

Eddie rubbed his face and tried to clear his thoughts. He'd only been asleep for a couple hours after failing to get in touch with Dan. In the time that they'd spoken, Gerard seemed absolutely terrified of being found by someone from Vervez. Why would he have left?

From the charger back in his room, the two of them heard Eddie's text tone go off. It was the generic one, for numbers he hadn't assigned a tone to. Hoping it might be Gerard, he hurried back and tugged the charging cord out of the phone as he opened his messages.

“Oh thank god.” It was from Gerard – or a least from his number.

'We need a word with you, Mr. Brock.' It was the first message from that number in weeks. While Eddie was trying to figure out what that might mean, a second message was delivered. This one was an image.

Gerard was lying face up on a concrete floor. His eyes were open but there was no life in them; blood was streaked around his mouth. The focus of the picture, the part that Eddie couldn't take his eyes off of, was the large wooden stake sticking out of Gerard's chest. One of his hands was still wrapped loosely around it, smeared with his own blood.

While he was still trying to take this in, two more messages popped up. Another image: Dan looking terrified but alive, blood on his hands from where Eddie immediately assumed he was trying to help Gerard. And then an address, not far from the warehouse that he and Venom had stopped the train of human trafficking.

Eddie felt his mouth go dry as he scanned the messages, feeling like he couldn't process what was happening if he blinked or looked away. Gerard was dead, Dan was in danger, both presumably because of him.

He didn't realize what was happening at first as his hand started to lower and slowly put the phone in his back pocket.

**We will go. They cannot threaten our friends.**

Eddie clenched his jaw and nodded. He leaned on the feeling that his symbiote, his _partner_ , was there and ready to fuck shit up.

“You're right. Let's go.”

*

Finding the location was easy enough. Knowing what to do when they got there was something else.

“Who do you think sent the messages anyway?” Eddie asked under his breath.

Venom growled in Eddie's mind as they slowly approached the surprisingly populated area around the detailed address. North Beach wasn't exactly somewhere isolated. **Think. You are smarter than this.**

Eddie rubbed his face. “They killed somebody we know, they're holding somebody close to us hostage. It's a new situation for me, okay?”

**Think!** Eddie felt something warm wrap tightly around his hand, almost tightly enough to hurt. He latched on to the physical sensation to ground him and gripped back the best he could. **Gerard had information on Vervez. His involvement with us was threatening to expose both financial wrongdoing and something else.**

“Then what's Dan got to do with it?” Eddie asked, though it was more to get his own thoughts moving. He wracked his mind to find some sort of connection when an image of a chart popped up in his head. The word phenethylamine. “His hospital. They're partnered with Triple Solace. If someone knew Dan was related to me, and they wanted to get me to go somewhere voluntarily, they could go after him.”

Eddie bared his teeth, feeling them sharpen into dangerous spikes. There was only one person that could fit the bill, one person that trying to find was like trying to catch smoke in his hand. One of the hardest people Eddie's ever tried to pin down, that he only ever got a single glimpse of during his entire investigation.

Robert McCracken. 

Eddie shuddered and fought back the urge to let Venom take over. Rushing in without a plan would almost certainly get Dan killed.

“We gotta keep you hidden. At least at first. McCracken has to think I'm just a normal human person that wants to keep my friend safe and that I'm letting him blackmail me.” Venom growled loudly in Eddie's mind. He obviously wasn't happy about this. “You can deal. I know how fast you can bite a head off. Maybe you'll actually get to try vampire today.”

Checking his phone, studiously ignoring the photos posted above the address, Eddie realized he was right on top of the meeting location. The building he stood in front of was closed and dark. He walked around it as casually as he could before finding a set of stairs set into the sidewalk that led down into a basement level.

Eddie glanced both ways before heading down. The heavy door at the bottom of the step staircase was unlocked and opened silently. Once the door shut behind him, it was almost completely dark. He relied on Venom's senses as he walked confidently forward through a short hallway. Doors opened up to either side but the rooms behind them were empty. It was a door at the end of the hall that had life behind it.

He took a deep breath and let it out slowly before putting his hand on the doorknob. “Are you ready?” Eddie mumbled softly.

**Ready.** Vee tightened around Eddie almost imperceptibly and gripped his hand one last time before hiding under his skin. To any outside observer, Eddie was just one person in regular clothes. They couldn't be any more wrong.

This door wasn't quite so easy to open. It squeaked loud enough to grate at his hearing and make Venom shiver around him. There was enough light to see by in here at least. Eddie had to brace himself and hold on to the door frame to keep from rushing over to Dan, who had looked up when he opened the door.

“Eddie! No, no no no, you have to get out of here –“ Dan's panic was cut off by a sharp-dressed man stepping in front of him.

Robert McCracken looked Eddie up and down with a disdainful sneer. “So. This is the man who Way went to to try to bring me down. A disgraced journalist with a shady past.” He shook his head and glanced briefly at the body on the floor in the corner. “It really is a shame. He had such _potential.”_

“You're not gonna get away with this.” Eddie tried to feel as calm as he was acting. Everything about this guy was setting off instinctual alarms in his head, both from himself and from Vee.

He was interrupted by a quiet laugh. “I've already gotten away with it. Gerard will quietly disappear from public record, you'll go missing, and any leads you have will be buried deeper than any normal human can find them.” Robert smiled genially before shrugging off his suit jacket. “I'll make this doctor my next meal and buy his silence if he survives.” He draped his jacket carefully over a chair in the corner; the only furniture in the room.

“I've been doing this for longer than you've been alive, Mr. Brock.” Robert unbuttoned his shirt cuffs to roll up his sleeves. “I'm afraid this is the end of the line.”

Eddie was tense enough that he felt like anything thrown at him would just bounce off. It took all his effort to keep Vee from taking over right then and there.

“Oh, before I forget.” Robert snapped the fingers of his right hand in front of his face. Eddie met his eyes without even thinking. Immediately he felt his tensed muscles go slack and he dropped to his knees.

**Eddie! What is happening!** Venom fought to control his body while Eddie fought just to stay conscious. All the sounds around him, including Vee's voice, sounded far away. The vampire's eyes were all he could focus on. His will to try and fight seemed to fade to almost nothing. Eddie just watched numbly while Robert turned away and did the same thing to Dan.

Vee's emotions, normally something Eddie could only vaguely sense, roared to the surface of his mind. Anger, possessive protectiveness, the _hunger_ that never really went away. But running underneath it all was something that drove everything else, an emotion that Eddie had never been able to feel from the alien before, not enough to be able to put a name to it.

It was... love.

That realization was enough to snap Eddie out of the vampiric hypnosis. He was still weak, still had to fight to get to his feet to stand on wobbly knees, but at least he was able to do that. The amiable expression on Robert's face disappeared as soon soon as Eddie started to climb off of his knees. His lips twisted into an ugly look of disdain.

“Did I tell you to get up, Mr. Brock?”

“No... I never was one to follow directions.” Eddie balled his hands up into fists. _Okay, Vee. If we're gonna get this done, we need to do it now._

Eddie felt Venom oozing through his skin to take over when his vision suddenly went dark.


End file.
